Page 67 of Let Sleeping Dogs Lie

Bill groaned and rolled his eyes. “Y’all need to keep that sex talk out of the office.”

We all burst out laughing.

“Who said this was about sex?” Luke said, grinning ear to ear. “Maybe we’re talking about baking cookies.”

“I know for a fact that Summer doesn’t bake,” Bill said. “You were the one who baked all those cookies last night. She just watched.”

“Be that as it may,” I said forcefully, trying to rein them back in, “I am handling this investigation with Dixie, and you, Luke Montgomery, are staying out of it. Do you hear me?”

He took another bite of food and seemed to think about it for a few moments. “Fine. I’ll let you handle it as long as it’s not dangerous. But the moment it becomes dangerous, I become involved. Do you promise?”

I thought about how dangerous it could possibly be to go back and confront Rachel. She didn’t seem like the type to resort to violence, and I had taken a sip of that lemonade and hadn’t keeled over from being poisoned. Seemed like a safe promise. “Yeah, I promise,” I said. “If it gets dangerous, we’ll let you know.”

“So how, exactly, do you plan on handling this?” Luke asked.

I sighed. “I have no idea. I wonder if Chuck Petty’s parents or siblings are still alive and around.”

Dixie’s face lit up. “It just so happens that there’s a Peter Petty who has followed Maybelline’s Facebook page. I took the liberty of messaging him and askin’ him if he’s related to Chuck. He said he’s his brother and lives in Dothan. He also said he’d be willing to talk to us via Zoom. I just need to tell him what time.”

“Well, there you have it,” I said with a shrug. “Dixie’s already tracked someone down.” I gave Luke a pointed look. “Seems like a Zoom call should be safe, and we’ll have plenty of time to wrap it up before dinner.”

He rolled his eyes, then took another bite of his lunch.

The mention of dinner had me thinking about Meemaw and her secretive plans for tonight—and the potential need for abuffer of sorts. With this in mind, I turned up an innocent smile. “Oh, by the way. Meemaw’s having a family dinner tonight, and you and Bill are both invited.”

Dixie’s mouth dropped open, and before she could protest, I added, “I figure it’s a family dinner, and you two are our significant others, so of course you should be there.”

Luke gave me a smug look. “Seems reasonable. You know how much your Meemaw loves me.”

No arguing with that. That woman thought he hung the moon and was more ecstatic than I was when we got back together. And that was saying something.

“I’ll be there,” Luke said.

Bill nodded. “Count me in. I can’t turn down good food.”

“You don’t even know what she’s makin’,” Dixie scoffed.

I turned to Bill. “She’s making fried chicken and mashed potatoes.”

“It doesn’t matter,” Bill said. “That woman knows how to cook. No matter what she makes, I’ll be there.”

With any luck at all, Dixie and I would have this case wrapped up before we sat down to dinner and found out what Meemaw was up to.

Chapter Twenty-Five

Summer

After we finished lunch and Luke took off, I decided it was time to place a call to Magnolia and Belinda and give them an update. Torn about which one of them to call, I went with Belinda because, technically, she was the one who’d hired us. Still, I hoped it could be a conference call, especially since Dixie was taking part as well. I wanted to gauge their reactions, so I placed a video call from my computer, turning the screen around so Dixie and I could sit together in front of my desk.

“Summer,” Belinda said in surprise when she answered, “I didn’t expect to hear from you so soon.”

“We’ve made great progress already,” I said. “Better progress than I expected this soon. But I need to ask Magnolia a favor.”

“She’s right here,” Belinda said, then propped her phone against something so Magnolia’s face filled the screen too.

“I’m here. What do you need?”

I was pleased that she sounded better than she had the day before and that the dark circles under her eyes weren’t so prominent. She seemed a little cheerier even though there was a slight edge to her voice.

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